Masks
by Nightmarish Black
Summary: When Temari finds Shikamaru and Neji together, it's up to Kankuro to do his best to fix the problem. But one thing leads to another, and the puppetmaster finds that he and Gaara may have a bit stronger of a bond than most brothers. Sandcest. KankuroGaara.


-Rated M for language, incest, sex, etc. Do you really need this? It says so in the rating place…spot…thing.

I don't own the Sand Siblings or anybody. But if I did, I'd have way too much fun with Kankuro and Gaara.-

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"Kankuro…?" Gaara's voice broke through into the teen's concentration "Temari's home." The red-head yawned softly. He hadn't slept, he never did, so he had been the first to notice when their older sister had come home, sobbing softly. Gaara, before, had never felt anything for his siblings, but now he had started to feel the emotions he had lacked for so long. They were slow in coming, and sometimes painful, but Kankuro always assured him that they were worthwhile. And Gaara believed him.

The puppeteer pulled his towel around his waist, holding the two corners together with his nimble fingers, before opening his door a crack. Upon seeing his brother, he opened it all the way. "She is?" His voice was low and thick with sleep, but still surprised: why had she returned from Konoha this early in the morning? She had said she would be back around lunchtime from seeing Shikamaru, and would they not destroy the house, if they pleased? But here she was, apparently home, not even forty-five minutes after sunrise, which had been around 6:15 that morning.

Had she been so worried about them that she had cut her visit short just to come and make her younger brothers' breakfast? Or did she think they would actually destroy the house? She had had no reason to fear that… Kankuro was the one who would do that, and he had been too busy to even think about doing so. Gaara, who had his duties as Kazekage, wouldn't stand for his brother destroying the house, and Kankuro wasn't even going to risk his brother's cold gaze upon him… it was like he was disappointed in him when that happened… but that was besides the point.

He shook his head, clearing his still-sleepy thoughts. "What happened, Gaara?" He asked, his voice hoarse from disuse. Gaara turned to look at his brother, ice-green eyes flat. His brother had just gotten out of the shower, so he didn't have his kabuki makeup on, or his cat-like hood, his "kitty hood". So, for the first time in, maybe a few years, he saw him as he truly was. His green eyes were noticeable, as the attention wasn't instead drawn to the face paint or the black hood he wore.

"Err… hold on a second, will ya?" The puppet master closed his door most of the way, slipping into his clothes, but still in too much of a hurry to see Temari to put on his makeup or hood. When he had pulled on a pair of pants, black, of course, and tossed his towel somewhere into his room, he followed Gaara to the living room, where he saw his older sister.

Her dark blue eyes were even darker, clouded with worry. Her fan was leaning up against the hallway wall, using the coat hooks as something to hold the metal instrument up, despite their original purpose. The white-washed walls (Kankuro still needed to get around to painting them; Temari hadn't decided on a color) bore no black and grey scrapes from the metal, contrary to the fact that metal scratches walls. But she was talented with her favored weapon and had never made a mistake. At least, not while in the house.

"God… you look terrible!" He was as painfully blunt as always, not meaning to try and make her feel bad, but simply noticing, taken aback by the fact, as she was always so good at keeping her makeup from smudging.

"I know…" the girl whispered. Her makeup had smeared; tears had run their tracks from her dark eyes to her cheeks, leaving black-tinted trails in their wake. "K-Kankuro," she sniffed, carefully trying to dry her eyes.

"Woah!" Kankuro objected, gently taking her wrists in his hands. "That'll make it worse, Tem. Just try and calm down." After a few moments hesitation, the teen took his sister into his arms, hugging her. No matter how awkward it felt, it was his job as her brother to make sure she was alright. "Try and calm down and tell me what happened, okay?" His own eyes looked to hers which reflected back his paint-less face and his eyes, which were wide with concern for her.

"I was in Konoha," she began softly, pulling away from him to curl up in a chair, leaving the couch and lay down-chair open for Kankuro and Gaara, who had made his way into living room without being noticed.

It was something that now made him realize just how his habit of keeping to himself had made his older siblings more dependent on each other. He felt a bit left out now; hadn't Kankuro promised him that he would try and help him? _'God…'_ Gaara thought to himself as he watched his older siblings, his flat green eyes void of emotion_. 'Why am I so hung up over him? He said he would help. I want him to help me…' _He began to argue with himself, stopping when his sister spoke.

"To see Shikamaru," Temari continued, playing with a lock of hair. "It was his day off, you see. But I went over to his apartment… he gave me a spare key so that I could see him whenever I needed to." The girl glanced around, seeing Gaara, who had perched on the couch and was watching them with his eerie eyes.

Kankuro turned to follow her gaze, meeting Gaara's eyes. They were burning with a cold fire, with such intensity that it made the puppeteer want to look away. But there was almost something hungry in the gaze that wouldn't let him. He couldn't open his mouth to speak, either to speak to Temari or softly tell Gaara to make it stop, whatever it was he was doing. But it was like he was paralyzed, unable to stand, to put a hand in front of his eyes to block the soul-searching that must have been going on, or even to blink.

As the Kazekage watched his brother, trying to figure out why he kept thinking about him, he began to notice how the older teen had begun to look frightened. It was the same look that the kabuki paint-wearing boy used to give him when he began to suffer from bloodlust of the Shukaku. He was scaring his brother… again. _'Why? Why can't he just see me as a normal person?'_

_(Years ago, when Gaara had been awake, doing his best to keep his 'other self' from devouring him, Kankuro had been the one to come and sit next to him, instead of Temari, talking aimlessly, telling stories; anything to keep the boy's mind off things. It had been almost enjoyable to Gaara; one of his fonder memories.)_

_(Kankuro's eyes as Gaara was brought back to life. "Tch. Damn right. You're just a little brother causing me all kind of worries." While the words had been almost condescending, the expression on his face had been kind, almost big-brotherly. "Jeez, what's with you two, talking so big! Gaara's the Kazekage, remember? So don't be giving him any lip." Temari; he could tell she was relieved. "You're both just little grunts!" Kankuro had made a face at that. "Thank you… Naruto." Gaara knew that it was taking Kankuro a lot to thank the genin. Kankuro had never clarified what, exactly, he had been thanking him for. For what?)_

Gaara turned his eyes away, and the effect was as if Kankuro was released from a spell. The puppet-master shuddered, trying to get used to the odd feeling Gaara had given him.

Puzzled by what he had done, Gaara continued watching his older brother, lying to himself, saying that he wanted to know why Kankuro had flinched away… he knew it was something else, but didn't want to deal with it right now.

"But when I went to see Shikamaru, I-I--…" she broke off, sobbing again, startling Kankuro, who was already having a bad day, and it was only 7:13!

"'I' what?" he prompted, sitting down finally on the arm of Temari's chair. He was still concerned for her, but, incessantly, in the back of his mind, his thoughts kept returning to his younger brother. As he recalled the look in Gaara's eyes, he felt something clutch in his chest, as if a hand had closed on it, to use the expression. The teen's breathing constricted; Kankuro almost felt himself gasping for breath.

"I-I…. I saw Shikamaru in bed with Neji!"

"W-what!" Kankuro demanded, yanked quite forcibly from his daydreams. _'Might be a good thing,'_ he noted to himself, all attention (trying to be) focused on his older sister.

"T-they were in bed together!" she cried, before starting to sob once more.

"Shikamaru Nara and Hyuuga Neji?" Kankuro mused to himself aloud, thoughts moving to the two brunettes as he began to try and formulate a plot to defend his… sister's honor? _'Alright, then…' _"To Konoha we go," he decided, standing up.

Gaara watched, outwardly impassive, as his brother stood, pale green eyes (_'flecks of sea-green ice…'_ Kankuro noticed) roving up and down his bare upper body, as if trying to point out that he was topless, when, in fact, he was… admiring… his brother's build. '_He does have a nice chest… but what's it from? Can puppets make you that muscular?' _Gaara questioned silently, before squashing the thought process; he didn't like where it was going.

"Oh--err--right…" Kankuro nodded, blushing faintly. "'Ari, we should get you cleaned up… I need to get dressed, too." With that, he wandered to the bathroom, Temari following, and, after a few moments of indecision, by the Kazekage himself.

When Gaara entered the bathroom, Kankuro had a nimble finger in his paint and was spreading it across his face in the accustomed gestures that he was so good at. The dexterity was unnatural for a normal human. But he wasn't a normal human; he was a puppet-master.

When the older man noticed him watching him so closely, he smirked, holding up a paint-covered index finger to beckon to his brother, his paint only half on.

Gaara moved towards him, standing between him and Temari, who was putting on fresh makeup. "You need to take your mask off more, Kankuro," he noticed, stating his thoughts.

Kankuro smirked once more, before putting his finger on Gaara's cheek and smearing the paint across his younger brother's cheek fondly (_'A little too friendly,'_ Temari noticed with an arched eyebrow.)

"What?" Gaara demanded, flinching away from him, a hand already up to wipe the kabuki paint away. "What are you doing?"

"Hmm? Oh." A shrug, before "just bonding with my little brother, ya know (1)." But, although his words and tones were cool, nonchalant, his heart was pounding as if he'd had a near brush with death. _'What's going on with me? Goddammit! What the hell is wrong with me!'_

"Bonding?" Temari asked, tone quite amused, "doesn't look like that to me." She was feeling much better now, now that she was getting cleaned up and going to do something about her 'little problem" as Kankuro would say; things like that seemed to generally have a cheering effect on people.

"Oh, shut up, Tem," her brother snorted, jamming his kitty hood on over his still messy hair--the teen had already changed from only pants into his jumpsuit. He slipped his already-described lithe fingers into his fingerless black gloves. "Are you both ready?"

His question went verbally unanswered by Gaara, who nodded, but verbally acknowledged by Temari.

"To Konoha," she nodded, echoing his previous words. She led the trio to the front door, where she retrieved her fan from the coat hooks, standing hands akimbo as she waited.

"To Konoha!" Kankuro agreed, nodding enthusiastically, back to 'normal' now that Gaara had stopped staring at him, constantly drawing the puppeteer's attention to the young Kazekage. Then his dark, dark emerald eyes turned to Gaara's pale, pale sea-green ones. "Gaara…?"

"To… Konoha…" the younger teen sighed, eyes narrowed at his Kankuro, who was beaming at him, pleased that he had contributed.

Not wanting to continue to repeat himself, Kankuro marched out the door, looking around. "So… which way to Konoha, again?"

"That way," Temari sighed, pointing her motivated brother in the right direction.

Gaara disappeared suddenly, followed by Temari, both vanishing with a small cloud of sand whirling around them, and then left in their individual places. Kankuro blinked at them, before he hurriedly followed.

When he reappeared, the three were in the streets of Konoha, the "Village Hidden in the Leaves". "So, which way to Shikamaru's, Tem?"

The girl arched a well-manicured brow at him, before answering after shaking her head, "he'd be at the training yard, with his team, Kankuro."

"Oh, I knew that… and where is the training yard?" he asked, only to find that she was already pointing in the correct direction. "Of course." He led his siblings in that direction for only a few minutes, before they arrived in the right spot.

Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino were 'training', more or less. Chouji was eating, of course; Shikamaru lying on the ground, muttering something about "training… how troublesome…" and watching the clouds; Ino was sitting on a bench beside Chouji, looking around, so she was the first to notice when the Sand Siblings approached.

"It's them! The sand nin!" Ino interjected through Shikamaru's mumblings and Chouji's crunching. "And the Kazekage!" she had noticed Gaara, who glanced at the other three before turning away, almost contemptuously.

"Shikamaru!" Kankuro commanded, pointing at the prone figure. "You! Get up, now!"

Shikamaru looked from the puppeteer to Temari and then back again, before scrambling up and hiding behind Chouji, who, in turn, hid behind Ino.

Kankuro made a face, sneering, the kabuki paint making the expression worse; much more horrible, frightening, in fact. "Oh, stop hiding."

"Why do you want Shikamaru?" Ino demanded, crossing her arms across her chest, not moving until Kankuro advanced on her, causing her and Chouji to move away, leaving him to stand before Shikamaru. Shikamaru stared up at him, eyes wide.

"Why? You know he was dating my sister, right?" Kankuro asked, tones pleasant but still with a fierce bite behind them as he met Shikamaru's gaze.

"Yeah, so?" Ino, again.

"What? He didn't tell you what was going on beside that?" the sand nin asked, voice incredulous this time, as he dropped his severe and angry expression for one of amazement. "You don't know? Your own teammate?" after he gaped, he took his serious expression back from wherever it had gone to. "Shikamaru was _cheating_ on my sister." He heard Ino gasp, before continuing. "With a boy," again she gasped, "Neji."

Ino practically shouted, "Whaaaaaaat! With Neji! How? Wait… not how! He was cheating with Neji? I must go and tell forehead girl!" She ran off, leaving Kankuro to muse over who 'forehead girl' was.

Shikamaru still stared at him, not saying anything for a moment, only watching the older teen ponder this newest bit of information. "So… are you going to do anything?"

"What? Oh, yeah… err…" Kankuro slipped a finger under the wrap that held Karasu onto his back, ready to yank it off.

Gaara turned his attention to his brother, still standing behind Temari. Emotionless eyes focused on the older man's back intensely, narrowed slightly in thought. As Kankuro and Shikamaru prepared to fight, the Kazekage stared at them. He knew his brother could feel his gaze, but ignored the soft, nagging voice in the back of his thoughts, silencing it through sheer willpower.

Then, with a quiet popping noise, Neji appeared, white eyes on Shikamaru, who turned his attention from the sand nin to the other boy. Neji blinked once, remarking, "Is this a bad time, Shikamaru?"

"For him, maybe," Kankuro answered, rolling his eyes. "He was cheating on my sister with you."

"What? You never said there was a girl involved!" Neji narrowed his eyes at Shikamaru, who stood there, eyes still wide. "You didn't say you had a girlfriend!" He turned to Kankuro, walking to stand beside him and Temari, announcing, "I'll fight with you against him."

Kankuro gaped at him before turning back to Shikamaru. "Ouch… well, here we go, then. Tem, you wanna help?"

"It'd be my pleasure," she growled from between clenched teeth, stepping forwards as well.

Gaara stayed back, arms crossed as he watched the three (only Kankuro), prepare to finally fight. He remained impassive as Kankuro pulled Karasu from his shoulder, allowing the wrappings to flutter at the sudden action.

"And off we go," Kankuro said; had he been an animal, a cat, he would have been purring while sticking his claws into the leg of his victim; dangerous behind pleasant enough tones.

With a shake of his head, Shikamaru began to form hand signs, his shadow stretching from his feet to Temari's, Neji's, and then Kankuro's. "I'm really sorry about this," he remarked, making a movement like opening a large fan. Temari opened hers, as Neji and Kankuro did the same motions, only without the fan. Shikamaru had the three turn to their left, so that Kankuro was facing Temari, who was facing Neji, and then mimed hitting someone with his fan. Temari whacked Neji soundly on the back of his head, causing his eyes to close as he blacked out. "Sorry," Shikamaru repeated, before acting out hitting himself in his head with the fan, which Temari and Kankuro (and the unconscious Neji) did as well. Now that Neji and Temari were knocked out, he faced Kankuro, who glared at him. "Very sorry." Shikamaru began to walk, so that Kankuro walked to a tree, turning around. Using the same idea he had during the Chunin exams, he threw a weapon at Kankuro, who was forced to mimic it. Then, ducking back to avoid it, Kankuro, who had followed, cracked his head against the tree.

Releasing the jutsu on the three, he began to have it advance towards Gaara, who looked at it, growling with a slight sneer, "Don't even think about it." Shikamaru followed the warning, vanishing.

After a few minutes had passed, Temari sat up with a groan, rubbing her forehead. "Ouch… Kankuro, where'd he go?" she asked, looking about for her black-clad brother, who she found crumpled on the ground beside a tree, grumbling softly to himself as he rubbed the back of his head. "Kankuro?" the girl made her way to him, crouching beside him. "What happened?"

"He slammed my head against a tree! Stupid bastard!" the puppeteer hissed, half shouting it.

"Take off the hood so I can see it, please," Temari requested; only to sigh as he refused, shaking his head, which only led to a yell from him at the pain. "Take it off before I have to take it off for you." Another, smaller, shake of the head. "Take it off before I have to have Gaara take if off of you, Kankuro. God." Her brother obliged, dropping it in his lap.

"Happy now?"

"You're bleeding!" she noticed, before tearing strips of her clothing off, binding them around his head.

"Ack! Ouch! Stoppit, Temari!" Kankuro tried to struggle away, but only succeeded in causing his splitting headache to worsen. "It hurts! Make it stop!" he commanded, but held still as she wound the make-shift bandages around his head.

"There you go. You can put the hood on now," Temari rolled her eyes at him as he carefully put it back on, standing up. She followed, looking around. "Well, that failed miserably. I'm going home." With that, she vanished, leaving Gaara and Kankuro in the training yard.

"Ouch." Kankuro again, of course, as he leaned against the tree. "Well, Gaara, back home we go?" He tried a cocky grin, but it only hurt his head, so in the end he settled for a small smirk.

"You need to be more careful, Kankuro." His younger brother shrugged, padding silently to his side. "I doubt you can walk by yourself." He held an arm out to Kankuro reluctantly, looking up at him.

"You know what? I bet you're right… thanks." Kankuro dropped the smirk for a smile as he leaned slightly on his younger brother. "Back home, then?" A thrill ran from his hand where he was touching Gaara to his spine, where it tingled. _'I wish this would stop… it's getting annoying now…'_ This wasn't the first time this had happened… every time he was alone with Gaara; he had to resist… certain urges. Gaara was his fucking brother, for god's sake! _'Fucking… ha-ha.'_

Gaara blinked up at him, as if sensing what was going on behind his brother's eyes, choosing that moment to vanish, taking Kankuro with him. Reappearing in the living room of their house, Gaara looked to Temari, who seemed back to normal by now, before moving to the couch so that Kankuro could rest. "Sit." He commanded, pointing at the couch, watching as Kankuro slid gratefully onto the couch, allowing his hand to slip from Gaara's arm to his hand, which he squeezed gently, holding it for longer than a normal brother would to say "thank you", before letting go.

It wasn't the say Gaara didn't notice this; Temari and himself had known for a while now that Kankuro was gay. While he had never "come out of the closet" officially, his brother and sister both knew that it was true, as did the subject in question.

"God… let's never do that again; ever." Kankuro moaned as he lay down on the couch, looking up at Gaara and Temari.

"Good call. Took you long enough, though. But anyways, I have to go out. There's no food in the house, _Kankuro_." Temari glared at him, before smiling down at her brother, walking out the front door to go shopping.

"Bah." _'Shit… I'm alone with him again. What the hell am I supposed to do?'_ Kankuro's mind was racing with such thoughts. Closing his eyes, he patted his hand on the arm of the couch. "Well, sit down, Gaara. Ouch; gotta be careful of the head…"

Gaara obeyed, perching on the arm, looking down at Kankuro's emotionless face. But, behind it all, he could tell he was in extreme pain. _'Why doesn't he show it? Why's he hiding it?'_ the child inside him asked, _'he shouldn't have to be going through this…'_ The soft rise and falling of Kankuro's chest told Gaara his older brother was asleep, his pain now evident in his face. "Nii-san… why?" the younger teen murmured, allowing a pale china hand to brush against his brother's cheek, before pulling it back quickly, as if it had been burned.

The puppeteer murmured something in his sleep, before grunting and rolling onto his side on the couch. The hood fell off at this motion, allowing Gaara to pick it up, rolling it between his palms as he watched his brother sleep. He moved from the arm to sit beside Kankuro, still holding the hood.

After about an hour of the silent watching, Kankuro woke up, yawning softly.

"Your hood fell off…" Gaara murmured, offering it back to him.

The words and sudden closeness of Gaara brought out a quick blink from the older brother, before he smiled, accepting it and putting it back on. "Were you there the entire time?" he asked curiously, although he was worried. _'If he did, and I had one of… "those" dreams, we might have a problem…--'_

"Yes… you slept soundly the entire time," Gaara interrupted his thoughts as he stood, only to feel Kankuro's hand on his own, pulling him back down to sit. "What do you need?" he questioned, sitting.

"For an hour, Gaara?" Kankuro tilted his head as he lay there, creasing his brows. _'Why would he do that?'_

"It's not like I had anything better to do. Now--" he had risen once more, only to have Kankuro pull him back down.

"Gaara," he whispered, almost inaudibly, dark eyes closed. "Gaara…"

The Kazekage blinked, having been yanked a bit harder this time. "You… want me to stay?" he questioned him, looking at his closed eyes firmly.

"Would you?" he asked, opening them and meeting his brother's gaze. "Please?"

A soft sigh from Gaara before he nodded, settling back. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes before Gaara opened his mouth to say something; anything to break the thick silence between them--their silences were never this… unusual?--when he found it closed again.

Kankuro had reached up, pulling Gaara to him when his brother had tried to speak. He met his mouth with his own, kissing him gently. Struggling to sit up, he managed to, letting to of him, dark eyes meeting light ones, whispering brokenly, "Gaara, I'm so sorry…"

But Gaara said nothing, just mulling over what had happened. "Why?" he asked sharply, causing Kankuro to flinch away. "Why?" softer this time.

"Because I need you, Gaara… I know I'm your brother, but…" he trailed off. This was getting nowhere and very quickly at that; time for a different track. "Gaara. Have you ever heard the word 'incest'?"

Gaara nodded, listening to Kankuro carefully, not wanting to miss whatever had brought about the impromptu kiss. "Yes, I've heard it before. What's it mean?"

"Incest is when… when two family members love one another. It could be a sister and a brother, two cousins, a child and a parent…"

"But aren't families supposed to love each other?" Gaara questioned him, not letting go of his gaze. _'Is this another lesson about emotions or families?'_ he thought, following his brother's words.

Somehow, managing to break the gaze, Kankuro looked at his fingers. "Yes… but not in this way. In incest, the family members love each other so much… more than normal. Like a mother and a father do."

"Like a husband and a wife, you mean?" Trust Gaara to get straight to the point.

"Yes. Just like that. Siblings can love one another this way, too," as he spoke, his voice cracked, but he went on. "But, you see, it's illegal. It's illegal to love a sibling like a husband or wife."

"Oh. Wait. How can it be forbidden? You can't control who you love, right?"

"Right. See, I… I love you that way, Gaara. When you love someone like that--this, it makes you want to be with them, need to. It makes you want to kiss then and… do other things with them."

"Have sex with them, you mean." Gaara glanced down, catching his brother's now guilty gaze.

"Yes, that too. But, if nothing comes of this… 'forbidden love', to use your term, then no one would know. Nothing would happen, so no one would be punished…"

"But what if something did? What if two siblings had sex?" Gaara narrowed his gaze at Kankuro.

"If it was a brother and a sister, and she got pregnant, then the child would be--"

"What if it was two brothers? Would anyone ever know?"

"No… not unless they told someone or someone saw them… but its still--"

Gaara had interrupted him again. Not verbally this time, but by meeting his gaze. His eyes spoke plenty to him.

With a clench of his chest, Kankuro made up his mind. He didn't care any more. He couldn't, at this, instant, bring himself to care about the fact that Gaara was Kazekage; he didn't care that they were brothers; he didn't care about the law. He wanted--needed Gaara, and needed him now. He put a hand on his brother's cheek, pulling him towards him, where he met his mouth with his own.

Gaara blinked at the sudden action, but didn't pull away, force his brother from him, or stiffen, nor say anything.

Kankuro pulled Gaara's body to his, putting an arm around his back as he deepened the kiss, running his tongue along Gaara's. He bit the teen's tongue softly, earning a soft moan from him. Releasing the tongue, Kankuro pulled away, looking down at the boy clutched to his chest.

Gaara looked back up at him, saying nothing.

The puppeteer ran his nimble fingers along his chest, reaching under his shirt. The younger teen allowed this, giving Kankuro new confidence. Hormones taking over his thoughts, he stripped Gaara's shirt from him, leaning in to kiss him once more.

The redhead pulled away this time, but only to try and fumble with Kankuro's jumpsuit, which had no shirt to take off.

Obliging, Kankuro discarded his clothing, pushing Gaara down on the couch and straddling him, only in his hood and boxers. Hands went to the boy's pants, easily taking them off, followed by the boy's boxers, and then his own. He ran a finger down Gaara's chest, earning a shudder, and, going lower, another shudder, along with the teen arching his back.

"K-kankuro," Gaara moaned softly, pale hands moving to his brother's back, just below his shoulder blades, to pull him down on top of him, panting as Kankuro's dexterous fingers traced patterns on his inner thighs.

"Hmm? Do you want it, Gaara?" he asked, taunting him as he felt each of the boy's movements. "How badly do you want it?" His hands moved upwards on Gaara's legs, placing them just below his hips, on his inner legs, not letting him move. "Are you afraid to be at my mercy now…?" his own breathing had grown quicker at the actions, shallower. It seemed now that the roles had changed; no longer was Gaara the one taunting his brother, but now Kankuro.

"K-kankuro, I need it!" Gaara's eyes closed as he shouted, somehow softly, the words Kankuro had wanted to hear.

His grip on Gaara's legs grew tighter as he demanded quietly, "Are you afraid? Are you? Tell me now, Gaara!" He moved a slender finger upwards as he spoke, moving his mouth to Gaara's neck, able to hear every breath.

"I-I'm not afraid!" the boy managed to gasp, breathing in sharply as Kankuro bit his neck. "Ah!"

"Are you now?" his hand that wasn't grasping his brother's thigh moved to play about his neck before he pressed gently, not enough to cut off his breathing, but enough to make breathing difficult. "Do I scare you? Does knowing that I could kill you, strangle you, right here, scare you?"

"Y-yes…" Gaara answered softly, moaning as the hand on his neck moved down to his thigh and inwards. Kankuro was playing with him now… he didn't really mind….

Kankuro smirked before letting Gaara roll onto his stomach, having released his legs. "Gaara, is this what you want? What you need?"

"Yes!" he yelled, gasping sharply as he felt Kankuro enter him. "It is…" he moaned aloud, feeing the older man's grip on his shoulder tighten with every thrust; feeling every quick breath Kankuro drew from the rise and fall of his chest on his back.

Somewhere, in the midst of the thrusting and the pleasurable feeling that coaxed moans from both Gaara and Kankuro, Kankuro's hood had fallen from his own head onto Gaara's, covering his eyes. No lights had been on in the room, and now that the hood blocked out all light, Gaara felt helpless; he was a puppet under the puppeteer's will. He did what he was wanted to do, he reacted how he was asked to…

Kankuro moaned once more, his fingernails biting into Gaara's skin, causing the boy's sensitivity to sharpen, to rise that much more swiftly. The puppeteer kept him pinned to the couch, his grip on his shoulders still tight.

As Kankuro climaxed, his nails left Gaara's skin, and he leaned towards the cuts, licking the blood from them, panting softly.

The younger teen rolled onto his back, the hood falling off, meeting Kankuro's gaze with a weary smile. But his brother had moved back down to his legs. He felt Kankuro's tongue run along his cock, his hands once more keeping Gaara's legs down. "K-kankuro…?" he tried to ask, but clenched his hand into a fist as he felt a jolt run through him.

"Ssshhh… don't talk; don't talk…" Kankuro commanded him, before putting his mouth where his tongue had been before, bare back arched as he began to work.

Gaara moaned loudly, louder than he had before, his own fingernails now biting into his palm, cutting neat lines in the pale skin. "Kankuro…" he murmured meaninglessly, knowing his brother couldn't answer him. "Kankuro…" ever softer the second time, before he climaxed, feeling Kankuro withdraw. Looking up, he saw his brother coughing softly, before wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

"Yes, Gaara?" he asked, leaning back, drawing a blanket over both of them. "What is it?"

"How… how could incest be that bad?" Gaara crawled closer to Kankuro, letting his older brother put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him to his bare chest. "If it… feels that good, how could they forbid it?"

For this brief moment, Gaara wasn't the Kazekage or an emotionless killer, but Kankuro's younger brother, who wanted to know why something as pure and natural as love or sex could be seen as evil.

"Love like… this… between families isn't allowed because when children are born of an… 'unholy union', it will be deformed, retarded… a shinobi can't be like that."

"Oh… but what about… between brothers?"

"Although it harms no one, its still incest, Gaara. And incest is illegal…." Kankuro sighed softly, kissing the boy gently. "I'm sorry… I should never have burdened you with this, it's my problem…"

Gaara shook his head gently. "No… it's not only yours… it's both of ours. Our problem and our secret."

The older boy smiled down at him, "if you want it to be, Gaara… then it will be." His gentle words earned a nod from his brother. "Our problem and our secret… never to be shared…" Moving his mouth to Gaara's once more, he met his lips with his own, brushing across them, before forcing the boy's mouth open with his tongue, meeting it with Gaara's.

The boy moaned softly, eyes closed as his brother kissed him, letting him do as he pleased.

Kankuro pulled him onto his lap, still facing him so that he wouldn't have to break the kiss, as his hand moved to Gaara's thigh once more, then to his cock, moving quickly.

Gaara moaned into the kiss as he felt Kankuro's efforts with his hand, before the older teen pulled away, putting his free hand on Gaara's shoulder. Gaara put his mouth around his brother's wrist, biting it as he climaxed, panting heavily. "K-kankuro…" he murmured softly, letting go of the now-bleeding wrist.

The older teen pulled his jumpsuit back on, gingerly putting the hood back on as he put a hand around his bleeding wrist with a flinch.

Gaara slipped back into his own clothing, looking up at Kankuro, then down to his wrist. "Sorry," he murmured, before looking away, noticing the condition of the couch and of the room itself. "Kankuro…"

"It's alright. My head still hurts too much to notice that," he smiled wryly; grimly, before tilting his head slightly as his name was whispered. "I said…--" he stopped as he followed the younger's gaze. "Oh, shit."

It had been nearly two hours since Temari had left, leaving her brother home alone; it was near the time she would get back. But this time, instead of finding one brother showering and the other simply sitting there, she would find them on the couch together, which bore signs of obvious 'misuse'.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Kankuro growled, adding a, "oh, fuck," for good measure. "Bad, bad, very bad; very." Finished stating the obvious, he scrambled to his feet, hissing as the sudden standing sent another dagger into his head. There wouldn't be any time to do anything, as Temari could be heard unlocking the front door as he cursed. The puppeteer wavered on his feet, before being pulled back down to sit by his brother, who uncharacteristically clung to his arm-- almost fearfully. Although, who could blame him? With their father blaming Gaara for nearly everything, along with other children fearing him when he was younger-- wouldn't that explain him being afraid of his older sister's reaction to both of her brother having had sex? (Not to mention she had walked in of Neji and Shikamaru not even 24 hours previous). Nearly black eyes looked down at Gaara before Kankuro wound an arm about his shoulders, doing his best to comfort him while watching the door.

s hand intohrough him. gh him. is hand into a fist as asked to...t all light, Gaara felt helpless; he was a puppetake breathing When it opened, the older tensed, while the younger's grip on his brother's arm tightened sharply, nails digging into the black cloth.

"Gaara, I'm home, is Kankuro up yet?" Temari called from the front door, setting down the bags she had carried in. "Oh, there you are. Why're you sitting in there with all the lights off?" Upon walking in and seeing the state of both the room and her siblings, she simply stared, before asking slowly, "now tell me exactly what happened. Now, Kankuro."

Kankuro took his arm away from Gaara, trying to come up with a suitable explanation as to _why_, exactly, he had fucked his own brother on the couch. "Temari, I can explain…" he began, using the age-old explanation opening.

"It's just like earlier. Only instead of my boyfriend and another man, it's my own two brothers. You know what? Don't bother explaining to me why you did it." She ignored Kankuro's stuttered (tried) explanation while she crouched beside Gaara, who frostily eyed her, hand attached to his brother's (lover's) arm again, which ruined the effect. "If Gaara's alright with it, I can't really say anything about it… I don't like it, I don't approve it, but I'm not about to discriminate against you, either." She stood, leaving the room with a leisurely, almost nonchalant (even though Kankuro could tell it was forced), "if only I could be so lucky in love."

"Lucky in love, eh, Gaara-chan?" Kankuro mused, kissing his cheek lightly, which still brought a blush to his brother's face. "Is that what we are?" He only received a shrug, before Gaara leaned against his side, his own mask, not put there by kabuki paint, gone; or at least for a moment. "Gaara, you need to take your mask off more."

The time has come at last

To throw away this mask

So everyone can see

My true identity...

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And there we go. My first actual fanfic, even if it is a one-shot. ……. I think. Should I do a sequel or not?

Anyways, hope you liked.

Song lyrics are from "Mr. Roboto" by Styx.


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